Feedback for Strava's new maps (OpenStreetMap)

Strava is actively working with Mapbox (the open source mapping platform that supplies us with OpenStreetMap) to make sure we offer the best mapping experience for our athletes.

Mapbox gives us the opportunity to create customized maps that fit aesthetically and functionally with Strava. With open source data, errors or missing map assets can be fixed quickly and efficiently, creating the most detailed and robust maps for cycling and running. We believe in the potential and power of maps by OSM and we're focused on giving the Strava community the best experience possible.

Where did Street View go?

Mapbox does not provide Street View functionality at this time. We realize this functionality was valuable for some athletes; we'll do our best to re-incorporate it when possible.

August 14th, 2015:

We’re 100% committed to making Strava better for our athletes, and we hear you loud and clear regarding this switch from Google Maps to OSM. We didn’t anticipate how strongly some of our athletes would react to the change and apologize that it was a sudden disappointment to some of you. We could have done a better job explaining our reasoning and bracing you for the switch, handling the roll-out, taking more time to work with Mapbox, etc.

It may not seem like it now, but we believe deeply that changing to OSM is the best choice we can make for our athletes and our company. There is enormous potential and creative flexibility offered by the new maps and we ask that you stick with us and continue providing feedback as we bring that potential to fruition.

Your reports on the quality of the maps, such as missing map data and satellite image quality, can be addressed. We are working closely Mapbox, our OSM map provider, on both satellite imagery and road data and we’re invested in improving your experience. By providing specific examples of satellite and road data, we can act quickly to update the map data.

We've noted all your comments regarding street view, and understand how important it is to you. The top use for street view seems to center around segments, in viewing segment start and end coordinates as well as viewing the road surface and surroundings. Street view is still available when creating segments, and it may be possible to return street view to other areas of the segment experience. We will have more to share on this soon.

Our designers are compiling initial thoughts on how Strava can leverage certain styles, colors and shading to customize the map experience. We are already incorporating the existing feedback we’ve received here. Please continue to send us your feedback on how the look and feel of the maps can be improved.

- The Strava Team

August 21st, 2015:

When you visit a segment page, you can now click either endpoint of the segment to be brought to the street view for that location. Or, you can select one of the options from the map view menu (pictured below).

This addition is not meant to fully resolve your concerns about the switch to Mapbox. We're doing the best we can to respond to your feedback quickly while still maintaining our commitment to elevate your map experience with Mapbox. It's going to take time and we ask that you stick with us, and we'll continue to take your feedback to heart and iterate whenever possible.

September 2nd, 2015

We've just updated our maps to support four languages: English, French, German and Spanish. Now, if you're traveling or viewing the map in another country, you'll be able to see map labels and place names in your language.

How it works: If you have Strava set to one of the above four languages, you will see map labels in that language. For any other language that is not supported at this time, you will see the default map which displays regional language. To change your language preferences, use the menu at the bottom of any Strava page.

This map update also refreshes imagery for the Satellite map in select areas.

October 22nd, 2015

We're excited to announce updated maps in collaboration with Mapbox, featuring an intuitive display of map data and activity-specific styling. Designed especially with runners and cyclists in mind, we focused on a visual experience that would relay the map information we believe most helpful to our athletes:

Offset road labels for better visibility along activities

Visually distinct running and cycling paths

Highlighted pedestrian areas, outdoor areas, and parks

Vivid terrain styling and high-contrast mountain areas

Lower map label density for urban areas

Major highways and high-traffic roads de-prioritized in grey

Added points of interest most relevant to activity on Strava

Contour lines and elevation labels on satellite view

This is the first of several map projects we are working on as part of our ongoing goal to make your mapping experience on Strava more accurate, informative and rich.

Комментарии

I dont know on how many people this change had negative effects. I live in a really remote area and the satellite maps were extremely useful to create new tracks. The currently available satellite maps are really old and I can't even see the highway on it, imagine single tracks. As someone mentioned in the comments, it would be really useful if you could let the user decide between OSM or google maps. I thought it became a premium member feature so i accepted the free month offer but it looks like its all the way OSM.

The OSM is a good thing, but both satellite imagery and road data are not ok at all. It is really, really, really bad. It does seem that Strava is not doing enough so far, after the massive complaints about these issues. Therefore I have tonight downgraded to the monthly plan instead of the annual plan. Unless there are some promises pretty soon, it will be easy to downgrade to the free plan and log the rides/runs with your rivals in the training app marked. I am sorry to see the good effort over the last few years be wasted by some silly COE board meeting decisions. Greed is NOT good.

OK, the more I use the OSM maps, the more I become a disgruntled premium member. I thought other users were going a little overboard with the threats of dropping premium membership, but I'm with them now. My membership ends in December and won't be renewed unless google maps is restored as an option. The current maps are inaccurate, satellite views are outdated. Real garbage.

"we're doing everything we can to maximize the Mapbox experience quickly. "

A fully optimized osm & mapbox experience will still be a long way short of a google map, sattelite and streetview experience. No amount of interface tweeking will address this. I used streetviewl a lot. I've gone back logging my rides a site I used prior to joining strava so I can drop in to my route and match my memories to map locations. Of course I don't get to drop into my friends rides, which I enjoyed doing, especially when they were on rides in foreign lands.

Maybe you should be doing everything you can to engage with your customers instead of ignoring them and their concerns. I was disappointed with the switch to a mapping tool with no streetview, the fingers in the ear whilst shouting lalala type response to customers concerns/complaints is maybe more disappointing. you have irrevocably damaged your brand with your response to this move.

Didn't have a great experience with the maps today, caution double check your planned rotes since Strava shows roads when on open Street map they were trails, ended up a long way down a trail having to carry road bikes & breaking cleats...not impressed :(

I love the new maps. For Australia, the terrain data seems to be higher resolution (and it's rendering looks much better). I assume I can add missing roads and features via OSM, and this would also mean Strava has access to the vector and waypoint data for terrain features. Sounds like a good investment for the future to me. Please do something revolutionary with it.

There have been improvements lately, like more labeling. I live in Colorado and now I can see many mountain summits are labeled. Good job.

Now please change the topography lines to feet instead of meters. Also tweak the colors and topography lines so that they stand out more and aren't so hard to read. If you do these things, I won't really care anymore that it's not Google Maps. I don't care about Street View.

I seriously think Strava executives just don't care about what their premium users want, else Google Maps would still at least be an option by now. I really do believe that they've likely had an internal meeting and weighed how much money they'll lose from premium users switching back to free accounts versus how much they'll save by sticking with OSM; let's be honest Strava, this is a cost-cutting measure, period. I never realized how much I used Street View to view my friends' rides from the map on the activity overview page and not having it there is extremely annoying. Plus the satellite maps for my area are atrocious (Google's are awesome.)

You know what else is atrocious? The lack of engagement with your customers...

I don't ask for much out of you in exchange for my premium membership. I want records, some light analysis, and ACCURATE MAPS. The new maps are dumb. Quit being cheap and switch it back, or you'll lose another member.

Although I already posted (some time ago) about EASY workaround to get Google Maps and Street View via StraTistiX (GPSVisualizer/EveryTrail) - look at my post on page 3 of this thread;Seems like many users here just don't want to install a Chrome plugin or don't want to use Chrome!?!Maybe if they'd just try and realize the added value they're missing by not taking a shot with StraTistiX/Stravistix, they'd change their opinion :))) I surely did ;)

DejansLOVEnia

P.S.:Thomas, could You maybe (in similar matter) think about trying to include a map with (configurable) CUSTOM Mapbox style (so that anyone could customize the view to their liking)?Papics on this thread made interesting style, that is waaaay better then Strava's.

For hiking and MTB I think OSM provides a lot better info that GM, there is one BIG problem with Mapbox, though, that is a game killer for my Mapbox adventure with custom styles :(Namely: Mapbox doesn't make use of OSM's GRADE info of paths, which is (my opinion) one of the most important things to know about non-paved tracks. All the tracks (OSM highway/track/grade 1-5) have the same classification in Mapbox, that is Road/Service/Track, so I can't distinguish them on map as they're drawn equally! Similary also OSM's visibility info is not available.

In reality though, grade 1 and 2 tracks are easily drivable by car and bike, grade 3 is passably by MTB up and down, grade 4 is only passable by bike downway (upway would be very hardcore), and grade 5 is hardly passable by MTB even downway (steep also by foot)...All that unfortunately means, that You can't create a usable style for biking/hiking, because you have no idea if the service road is passably only by feet or even by car :(((Open Cycle Map also has this limitation, but on the other hand default Open Street Map style does differetiate track grades; check this example:https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/46.51954/15.55658https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/46.51954/15.55524&layers=C

@Dejan Kamenšek and Thomas C.There is an easy way to change the maptiles used on Strava, by creating a bookmark with a javascript.I always use my own mtb map, http://mtbmap.no/, when browsing activities in Strava.

I've created a link that can be used. And it's easy to tweak it to use another map.Just follow the instruction under Strava here http://mtbmap.no/info

Do you have a timeline? Maps define the Strava experience.
You'll understand our frustration at being passed the development buck, especially when the previous maps provided better functionality.
Unimpressed at at this point, have to question what I am paying for.

@Ola Endre R. thanx for the great hack that seems to work in Chrome and IE (unfortunately not in Firefox)! :)))

It works similar to VeloViewer's Map Flipper, only it is simpler and works great on current Strava's Mapbox tiles.Changing background map is as easy as clicking on a bookmark.Only thing You have to do is create a new bookmark in toolbar, name it as you wish and copy the (italic) code provided into it's URL field!

Strava needs to get their heads out their backside and get this sorted out. "premium" users dont pay the subscription to be beta testers. The lack of feedback and urgency shown by strava speaks volumes.

Why should it be left to 3rd party's to provide addon's that fix the obvious issues with the new mapping system?

Ok, it appears you do not have a timeline and are committed to Mapbox solely for Strava company reasons.

Here's how things work in the developing [in a socioeconomic sense] world: Street mapping in all its forms is extremely inaccurate. Therefore, it is necessary to utilise an Earth view to ascertain whether you need to bring the AM bike and hiking boots instead of the road bike and ballet shoes. That necessitates a sufficient level of zoom and definition. Your new 'enhancements' do not provide for that.

Still terribly annoyed by open maps. Its a subpar budget solution and its diluting the whole experience. Street view was an integral part of the experience not to mention the generally high quality of google maps. learn from apple maps misstake and realise that not everyone can make maps. This is the sort off stuff that leaves you open to competitors edging in on the market

REFUND - I see one success story below in terms of getting a refund, anyone else? If this is the economic decision that it seems to be then the only thing that will be heard is money leaving. I have tried to get used to OSM but the lack of street view, high resolution satellite maps, and lousy and inconsistent map information combine to make me feel that my Premium membership fee is not worth it. I am sure that the user agreement says that they have the right to change things but when they change something so fundamental without any apparent user input and remain so unresponsive to the specific comments, it is clear that they have broken the informal contract between their Premium users and the Company and they should do the right thing and let us get our money back. This is not the product that I bought when I signed up.

I think what's frustrating me now the most is the lack of engagement from the Strava team and their refusal to come out and say that they will definitely not be bringing Google Maps back or at least offering them to Premium members. I know the original post said that Google Maps will not be returning (that part of the post is now missing interestingly enough) - I want to know if this is still the case. Is Strava at least considering giving Premium members the option to use Google Maps? I don't understand why this can't be a choice as Strava competitors seem to be able to offer this. So, let's hear it Strava: will Google Maps be an option on the activity overview page sometime in the future?

Strava can do what they want, but I ought to point out that they do this at a cost. I have just cancelled my premium membership over this cr@p and am going back to free. If you (majority) users think OpenStreetMap is crap in the USA, you want to try it in rural England. It's pathetic and almost as bad as Apple maps.